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@DailyCollegianVol. 119 No. 12 Sept. 27-30, 2018

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Looking back at the unforgettable 2008 Penn State-Ohio State matchupBy Matt Lingerman

The Daily Collegian

A loot has changed since 2008 — and Penn State football is no exception.

Ten years ago, while James Franklin was beginning his ten-ure as assistant head coach at Maryland and Trace McSorley was a 13-year-old, Joe Paterno was entering his 43rd season at the helm of the Nittany Lions — and his team was special.

With a roster consisting of more than 20 future NFL play-ers and a coaching staff which combined for almost a century’s worth of Penn State experience,

Penn State opened the season No. 17 in the AP Poll after going 9-4 and winning the Alamo Bowl a year before.

As summer turned to fall, Penn State rattled off win after win and climbed up the polls, and it quickly became apparent — just as has been the case recently — Penn State’s success that season would be decided in large part by its matchup with Ohio State.

In 2008, that matchup came on Oct. 25.

It was each team’s ninth game of the year, and it was to be played at Ohio Stadium, known by many as “the Shoe.”

It was a game that defined an era of Penn State football.

This is the story of then-No. 3 Penn State’s 2008 trip to then-No. 9 Ohio State as told by those who lived it.

***

Heading into Columbus, the Nittany Lions were 8-0 and had beaten each opponent by at least two touchdowns.

“They had gone back to the style of play that was successful for them in 2005,” Steve Jones, radio voice of Penn State football, said. “They had a quarterback in Daryll Clark that was very much in the mold of Michael Robinson, they could spread the field out and make some plays, a veteran offensive line which may have been Penn State’s best since 1995, and you had veteran receiv-ers.”

The defense was anchored by seniors at all three levels and was the creation of defensive co-ordinator Tom Bradley. To that point, it had allowed 20 points just once. Although Penn State was dominant on both sides of the ball — outscoring opponents 363-94 during the first eight weeks — the Nittany Lions went to Columbus as the underdogs.

“We wanted to be the best,” former safety Mark Rubin said. “We wanted to win the Big Ten. We wanted to be the champions. And to be the best, you have to beat the best. What better chal-lenge than going to Ohio State, night game, national TV?”

Ohio Stadium was and is a daunting place to play for any team, and Penn State hadn’t won there since joining the Big Ten. The last victory at the Shoe came in 1978, and the losing streak spanned seven games.

Before that game, Penn State’s

most recent trip to Columbus in 2006 ended with the Nittany Lions putting up just six points against the then-No. 1 ranked Buckeyes.

The 30-year drought was a main storyline for the media, but those who were a part of the pro-gram in 2006 felt 2008 would be different.

“The night before the game when we met with the offense,” former quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said. “I got up and ad-dressed that a lot has been said and written that Penn State hasn’t won here in X-number of years, but this team has never played at Ohio State, these guys right here, as we are currently constituted. This group is play-ing their group, and it doesn’t matter what happened before.”

As talented as Penn State was, Ohio State was just as formida-ble on both sides of the ball. The Buckeyes opened the season at No. 2 but fell in the rankings after their Week 3 loss at No. 1 USC, and had beaten two top-25 opponents on the road.

The offense included talented upperclassmen in running back Beanie Wells and wide outs Bri-an Hartline and Brian Robiskie, but they were led by true fresh-man quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the star of the show.

Pryor, a Pennsylvania native, was one of the most sought after recruits in the nation and was heavily pursued by Paterno be-fore he committed to Ohio State. He won all five games he started

after replacing Todd Boeckman following the loss to USC, and the 19-year-old was electric.

“There were so many elements that Pryor brought,” Jones said. “When you watch Pryor run, it doesn’t look like he’s running fast, until you realize he’s eating up huge chunks of yardage with each stride.”

The defense, with its crop of future NFL players including Malcolm Jenkins, Kurt Coleman and James Laurinaitis, posed a challenge to the Nittany Lion of-fense.

“For me, it was something I had to prove to myself,” former left tackle Gerald Cadogan said. “That I could execute under high pressure, with all eyes on the of-fense, and our ability to move the ball and get the job done.”

***Columbus was the site of

ESPN College GameDay — the fourth straight year the matchup hosted the pregame show — and the game was broadcasted in pri-metime.

A record 105,711 fans packed into the Shoe, and it became quickly apparent that even with Game 3 of the World Series tak-ing place in Philadelphia that evening, Columbus was at the center of the sports universe.

“I remember LeBron James was on the sidelines,” Rubin said. “How many chances do you get to play in front of LeBron James when he’s watching you? That was a big-time game that we were excited for, and we just

wanted to prove how good we really were.”

It didn’t take either defense long to prove their worth.

Ohio State received the open-ing kickoff and punted the ball away after a couple of first downs.

The next six possessions of the game would end with the same result, and by the midway point of the second quarter the teams combined for just 186 yards of to-tal offense and no points.

“It was like watching a heavy-weight boxing match,” Jones said. “You knew you were watch-ing the two best teams in the Big Ten and you knew that you were watching two of the better teams in the country go head to head, so that’s the aura that the game took on…it was going to be that kind of game.”

The Nittany Lions got on the scoreboard first when former kicker Kevin Kelly capped off an 11-play, 76-yard drive with a field goal.

But, Ohio State answered with a field goal of its own and sent the teams to the locker rooms tied.

“One thing about being on a great team is that you never feel like you’re going to lose,” former wide receiver and team captain Derrick Williams said. “We al-ways stayed positive in the locker room. Some of the mistakes we made in the first half we weren’t going to make in the second half.

With Penn State down 6-3,

See 2008, Page A3.

Collegian file photos

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VersusPage A2 | SePT. 27-30, 2018

Buckeyes (4-0) (1-0 Big Ten)No. Name Position/Elig.

1 Jeffrey Okudah CB/So.1 Johnnie Dixon WR/Sr.2 Chase Young DE/So.2 J.K. Dobbins RB/So.3 Damon Arnette CB/Jr.4 Chris Chugunov QB/Jr.4 Jordan Fuller S/Jr.5 Baron Browning LB/So.6 Taron Vincent DT/Fr.6 Brian Sneed RB/Fr.6 Kory Curtis QB/So.7 Teradja Mitchell LB/Fr.7 Dwayne Haskins QB/So.8 Kendall Sheffield CB/Jr.9 Jason Cornell DE/Jr.9 Binjimen Victor WR/Jr.10 Daniel Vanatsky QB/Fr.10 Amir Riep S/So.11 Austin Mack WR/Jr.11 Tyreke Smith DE/Fr.12 Matthew Baldwin QB/Fr.12 Sevyn Banks CB/Fr.13 Tyreke Johnson CB/Fr.13 Rashod Berry TE/Jr.14 Isaiah Pryor S/So.14 K.J. Hill WR/Jr.15 Jaylen Harris WR/So.15 Josh Proctor S/Fr.16 Keandre Jones LB/Jr.16 Cameron Brown WR/Fr.17 Kamryn Babb WR/Fr.17 Alex Williams ATH/Fr.18 Jonathan Cooper DE/Jr.18 Tate Martell QB/Fr.19 Dallas Gant LB/Fr.19 Jake Metzer P/Jr.19 Chris Olave WR/Fr.20 Pete Werner LB/So.21 Marcus Williamson CB/Fr.21 Parris Campbell WR/Sr.

No. Name Position/Elig.

23 Jahsen Wint S/So.24 Sam Wiglusz WR/Fr.24 Shaun Wade CB/Fr.25 Mike Weber RB/Jr.25 Brendon White S/So.26 Jaelen Gill HB/Fr.28 Alex Badine CB/Jr.28 Amari McMahon RB/Jr.28 Dominic DiMaccio K/Fr.29 Marcus Hooker S/Fr.29 Zach Hoover K/So.30 Kevin Dever S/So.30 Demario McCall RB/So.32 Tuf Borland LB/So.33 Dante Booker LB/Sr.33 Master Teague RB/Fr.34 Owen Fankhauser S/Jr.34 Mitch Rossi RB/So.35 Luke Donovan S/Fr.36 K’Vaughan Pope LB/Fr.37 Trayvon Wilburn LB/Fr.37 Derrick Malone TE/Sr.38 Javontae Jean-Baptise DE/Fr.39 Malik Harrison LB/Jr.41 Hayden Jester LB/Jr.42 Lloyd McFarquhar CB/Fr.42 Bradley Robinson LS/Jr.43 Ryan Batsch S/Fr.43 Robert Cope RB/Fr.47 Justin Hilliard LB/Jr.48 Logan Hittle LB/Jr.48 Tate Duarte TE/Sr.49 Liam McCullough LS/Jr.50 Nathan Brock OL/Jr.51 Antwuan Jackson DT/So.52 Wyatt Davis OL/Fr.53 Davon Hamilton DT/Jr.54 Tyler Friday DE/Fr.54 Matthew Jones OL/Fr.

No. Name Position/Elig.

55 Malik Barrow DT/So.56 Aaron Cox DL/So.58 Joshua Alabi OL/Jr.59 Isaiah Prince OL/Sr.60 Blake Pfenning OL/Sr.61 Gavin Cupp OL/So.62 Brandon Pahl OL/Sr.63 Kevin Woidke OL/Sr.65 Phillip Thomas LS/Jr.66 Malcolm Pridgeon OL/Sr.67 Robert Landers DL/Jr.68 Zaid Hamdan DT/Fr.70 Noah Donald DL/Jr.71 Josh Myers OL/Fr.72 Tommy Togiai DT/Fr.73 Michael Jordan OG/Jr.74 Max Wray OL/Jr.75 Thayer Munford OL/So.76 Branden Bowen OL/Jr.77 Nicholas Petit-Frere OT/Fr.78 Demetrius Knox OL/Sr.79 Brady Taylor OL/Sr.80 C.J. Saunders WR/Jr.81 Jake Hausmann TE/So.82 Garyn Prater WR/So.83 Terry McLaurin WR/Sr.84 Brock Davin TE/Jr.85 L’Christian Smith WR/Fr.86 Dre’MontJones DT/Jr.87 Ellijah Gardiner WR/Fr.88 Jeremy Ruckert TE/Fr.89 Luke Farrell TE/So.90 Bryan Kristan P/Sr.91 Due Chrsiman P/ So.92 Haskell Garrett DT/So.95 Blake Haubeil K/So.96 Sean Nuerenberger K/Sr.97 Nick Bosa DE/Jr.98 Jerron Cage DT/Fr.

PENN STATENittany Lions (4-0) (1-0 Big Ten)

No. Name Position/Elig.1 KJ Hamler WR/Fr.2 Isaiah Humphries S/Fr.2 Donovan Johnson CB/Fr.2 Tommy Stevens QB/Jr.3 DeAndre Thompkins WR/Jr.4 Nick Scott S/Sr.4 Ricky Slade RB/Fr.5 Tariq Castro-Fields CB/So.5 Jahan Dotson WR/Fr.6 Cam Brown LB/Jr.6 Justin Shorter WR/Fr.7 Koa Farmer LB/Sr.8 Mark Allen RB/Sr.9 Trace McSorley QB/Sr.9 Jarvis Miller LB/Jr.10 Brandon Polk WR/Jr.11 Micah Parsons LB/Fr.12 Mac Hippenhammer WR/Fr. 13 Ellis Brooks LB/Fr. 13 Grayson Kline QB/Fr.14 Sean Clifford QB/Fr.14 Zech McPhearson CB/So.15 Michael Shuster QB/So.16 John Petrishen S/Jr.17 Will Levis QB/Fr.17 Garrett Taylor S/Jr.18 Johnathan Holland TE/Jr.18 Shaka Toney DE/So.19 Trent Gordon CB/Fr.20 Jabari Butler CB/Jr.20 Johnathan Thomas RB/Sr.21 Amani Oruwariye CB/Sr.23 Ayron Monroe S/Jr.24 DJ Brown CB/Fr.24 Miles Sanders RB/Jr.25 Brelin Faison-Walden LB/So. 26 Jonathan Sutherland S/Fr.27 Aeneas Hawkins DT/Fr.27 Cody Romano S/Fr.28 Jayson Oweh DE/Fr.

No. Name Position/Elig.29 Henry Fessler WR/Fr.29 John Reid CB/Jr.30 Kevin Givens DT/Jr.31 Christopher Welde WR/Jr.32 Journey Brown RB/Fr. 33 Jake Cooper LB/Sr.33 C.J. Holmes RB/So.34 Shane Simmons DE/So.35 Justin Neff S/Fr.36 Jan Johnson LB/Jr.37 Drew Hartlaub S/Fr.38 Lamont Wade CB/So.39 Frank Di Leo LB/Jr.40 Nick Eury RB/So.40 Jesse Luketa LB/Fr.41 Joe Arcangelo TE/Jr.42 Dae’Lun Darien LB/So.42 Ellison Jordan DT/So.45 Joe DuMond LB/So.45 Charlie Katshir LB/Fr.46 Nick Tarburton DE/Fr.48 Shareef Miller DE/Jr.49 Daniel Joseph DE/So.49 Cade Pollard P/Fr.50 Max Chizmar LB/Fr.50 Will Knutsson OL/Fr.51 Alex Gellerstedt OL/So.51 Jason Vranic LB/Sr.52 Ryan Bates OL/Jr.53 Fred Hansard DT/Fr.53 Rasheed Walker OL/Fr.54 Robert Windsor DT/Jr.55 Antonio Shelton DT/So.58 Evan Presta DT/Fr.62 Michal Menet OL/So.63 Collin De Boef OL/Fr.64 Zach Simpson OL/Jr.66 Connor McGovern OL/Jr.68 Hunter Kelly OL/DL/So.69 C.J. Thorpe OL/Fr

No. Name Position/Elig.70 Juice Scruggs OL/Fr.71 Will Fries OL/So.72 Bryce Effner OL/Fr.73 Mike Miranda OL/Fr.74 Steven Gonzalez OL/Jr.75 Des Holmes OL/Fr.76 Sterling Jenkins OL/Jr.77 Chasz Wright OL/Sr.79 Charlie Shuman OL/Sr.80 Danny Dalton TE/H/So.80 Justin Weller WR/Fr.81 Cam Sullivan-Brown WR/Fr.82 Zack Kuntz TE/H/Fr.82 Tyler Shoop WR/Jr.83 Nick Bowers TE/H/Jr.83 Alex Hoenstine WR/Fr.84 Juwan Johnson WR/Jr.85 Isaac Lutz WR/So.86 Daniel George WR/Fr.87 Pat Freiermuth TE/H/Fr.88 Dan Chisena WR/Jr.88 Judge Culpepper DT/Fr.89 Brandon Clark WR/Fr.89 Colton Maxwell WR/So.90 Damion Barber DT/Fr.90 Rafael Checa K/Fr.91 Chris Stoll SN/Fr.92 Jake Pinegar K/Fr.93 Blake Gillikin P/K/Jr.93 PJ Mustipher DT/Fr.94 Joe Calcagno SN/Fr.95 Donnell Dix DE/Sr.95 Vlad Hilling K/Fr.96 Matt Aloni SN/Fr.96 Kyle Vasey SN/Sr.97 Carson Landis K/P/Fr.98 Kevin Cahill SN/Fr.98 Dan Vasey DL/LS/Fr.99 Yetur Gross-Matos DE/So.99 Justin Tobin K/So.

Ohio State

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November 1

2008From Page A1..

the next quarter and change of football would determine the pro-gram’s season and ultimately go down as one of the most memo-rable performances this century.

Penn State was still in search of substantial ball movement when they began a drive with three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The first play of a drive saw Clark play-fake to running back Evan Royster and roll out to his right. With no one to throw to, the quarterback beat one defender at the line of scrimmage and gained seven yards before he was met by a pair of Buckeye linebackers. He got up slow and hobbled back to the huddle, clearly shaken up.

“I knew immediately some-thing was off,” Cadogan said. “Normally Daryll was a great quarterback who always took command in the huddle.”

When the television cameras showed Clark as he returned to the huddle, center A.Q. Shipley held two fingers up in front of his quarterback’s eyes as if to ask if he was seeing double.

“He went to the wrong position in the huddle,” Williams said.

Clark stayed in the game and finished the drive, eventually get-ting his team to the Buckeye 28-yard line before failing to convert on third down.

Trailing by three, Kelly came on to try a 45-yard field goal. The left-footed kicker and Neshami-ny High School product — James Franklin’s alma mater — was one kick away from ty-ing the game and the Big Ten field goal record.

From the left hash mark, the senior pulled it wide right.

“I was actually kind of shocked when I missed it,” Kelly said. “I kicked the ball well, but in that environment you probably try to push it a little too much, and I probably just didn’t relax as much as I should have. ”

Penn State had missed an op-portunity to tie the game.

Ohio State started the drive with a few rushes, picking up a first down, but didn’t gain sub-stantial yardage.

“Jack Hamm and I were sit-ting there in the booth, and we

said there’s going to be one big play, one big break that’s going to swing this game,” Jones said. “Which team is gonna get it? You kept waiting for that moment to happen, because this game had too many really good players on the field not to have a moment happen, and the moment we thought would swing the game one way another.”

Penn State’s moment came with 10 minutes and 38 seconds remaining in the game.

After a pair of Beanie Wells runs, the Buckeyes faced a third down needing just the length of the football to keep the drive mov-ing.

Pryor squatted under center and wasn’t hiding the fact he was going to keep it himself.

The ball was snapped, and Pryor stunned everybody when he tucked the ball and attempted to bounce it out to the right. The play was coming to Rubin, the se-nior safety. Pryor and Rubin met at the line-to-gain, Pryor with the ball tucked under his right arm.

As Rubin attempted to wrap the 6-foot-4 quarterback, his left hand punched the ball. The ball shot back a few yards and bounced on the turf. Linebacker Tyrell Sales couldn’t grab the ball, but he poked it a few yards downfield so the Buckeyes couldn’t recover.

“That was just a slow-mo-tion scramble,” Rubin said. “It seemed like the ball was bounc-ing for 50 yards and took five min-utes.”

As the players were peeled off the heap, it became appar-

ent Bowman had landed on the ball. The referee pointed toward the Ohio State end zone, and the Nittany Lions took over at the Buckeye 38.

“Here’s the moment,” Jones said. “The fresh-man quarterback has now made

a big mistake, and Penn State, which has just played great de-fense all night long, just capital-ized on the mistake… Now you have a golden opportunity. Ev-erybody in that stadium knew that was the ‘line in the sand’ mo-ment.”

If Penn State was going to take advantage of the Pryor fumble, it would have to do it without its starting quarterback, who was being evaluated for a concussion.

Enter Pat Devlin. Although he

was the second-string signal call-er, Devlin had taken snaps in the first half of a few of Penn State’s games that season and was trusted by his teammates and the coaching staff.

“We had a big, strong offensive line, and we all communicated,” Cadogan said. “We were definite-ly comfortable. You could’ve put anybody back there and we would still execute because we knew what was on the line.”

Prior to the game, he watched film from Illinois’ 2007 upset over then-No. 1 Ohio State. He said in the fourth quarter of that game, Illinois ran the ball on almost ev-ery play. The Penn State coaching staff decided it would do the same if the team was in a position to do so. He told the offensive line as much during Friday night’s pre-game meeting.

“I told them, we’re good enough to block them,” Paterno said. “We’re gonna have to be tough, we’re gonna have to be hard-nosed, we’re gonna wear them down and win the game in the fourth quarter, and you guys just got to believe.”

After Royster rushed for a gain of nine on the first play of the drive, Devlin threw what would be his only pass of the game on second down. He tried to hit Wil-liams on a slant over the middle, but the cornerback covering him was called for pass interference.

“I shook the dude out of his shoes and he held me,” Williams said with a laugh.

After a couple of runs on first and second down, Royster ran a counter to the right for a gain of four on third and two, setting up first and goal at the two-yard line.

“We welcomed [committing to the run],” Cadogan said. “That’s what we wanted and what we practiced for.”

After a rush by fullback Dan Lawlor moved the ball to the one, Devlin tried a sneak. No gain.

On third and goal, Devlin got under center again. He tried a sneak again. This time, it worked.

Penn State went up 10-6, and a few minutes later Kelly convert-ed a field goal to put the Nittany Lions up by a touchdown. The Buckeyes had just over a minute to attempt a comeback of their own. On second and 10 from the Penn State 43, Pryor rolled out to his right and launched the ball to-ward the right front pylon.

“When that ball went off, I could see that we had a really good shot at getting it because it was up in the air a while,” Paterno said.

While it floated back toward

earth, Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant was running to-ward it.

“When [Pryor] threw it up, I thought Brian [Hartline] was a lot closer to the ball than he actu-ally was,” Sargeant said. “I wasn’t even thinking about staying in bounds, I was thinking about the opportunity to knock it down. I’m like, ‘Oh crap, it’s coming this way, now we gotta make a play on it.’”

The referee immediately sig-naled interception, but the play would go under review.

But the call wasn’t reversed. Pryor paid the price again.

“I knew for a fact that I caught it,” Sargeant said. “[The coaches] were worried that there was go-ing to be another play. I wasn’t worried that they would reverse the call.”

Devlin knelt on the ball once, and Penn State escaped the Shoe victorious. The team had national title aspirations following the win, but they would be quelled when Iowa upset Penn State two weeks later. But the 2008 win at the Shoe will forever be a marquee victory in Penn State history.

“It was one of many, many, many amazing games that I’ve had the opportunity to broadcast here with Jack Hamm,” Jones said. “That was one of the really special ones because you knew when you were watching it you were watching something special between two really good teams.”

It was also the culmination of a few relatively down years and leadership from a strong group of upperclassmen. That win paved the way to the program’s third Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose

Bowl. The game was more than a regular season win. It pushed Penn State down a path of na-tional recognition and furthered its rivalry with Ohio State as one of the sport’s premier attractions.

“When we beat them, we certi-fied and validated that we were better than Ohio State,” Sargeant said. “It was nice to see that and see since then how big the rivalry has been for Penn State. I think it helped renew the rivalry.”

A lot has changed since that victory. Two coaching staffs have succeeded the Paterno era, Penn State has built the program back up after a scandal and hundreds of players have come and gone.

But fans still remember that game. Rubin is still asked for autographs, and Cadogan, now a high school coach, said his play-ers watch the game on Big Ten Classics. Members of the team have started and finished NFL, AFL and CFL careers.

That team really was a special group of people,” Paterno said. “There are seasons that there’s a certain feel in the air. A certain electricity on campus and on the practice field and in meetings, and that season had it. Even all these years later, it’s still so pal-pable.”

“It’s almost like a smell,” Pa-terno continued. “When the fall comes around and you see those games on Big Ten Network or someone brings up something about those games, there’s some-thing that comes back around that you’ll never lose.”

To email reporter: mcl5374@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @linger_man.

Collegian file photo

Penn State and Ohio State players scramble for a loose ball during the

game on Oct. 25, 2008. The Nittany Lions went on to win, 13-6.

“That was just a

slow-motion scram-

ble. It seemed like

the ball bounced for

50 yards and took

five minutes.”

Mark Rubin

Former Penn State safety

The Daily CollegianVersusPage A4 | SePT. 27-30, 2018

The offense is so good, the defense might not matter

With two fringe Heisman con-tenders running the offense, a strong offensive line and a diverse mix of talented receivers out wide, Penn State’s offense looks as good as it ever has.

The defense is another story.Between Shareef Miller develop-

ing into a game-changing player, the second unit being both talent-ed and fun to watch, and the fact that Penn State hasn’t given up a single point in the fourth quarter over the last three games, Brent Pry’s unit has had its moments.

But plenty of questions remain. Will we ever see the “old” John

Reid again? Who knows.Who are Penn State’s best three

linebackers? Each game, there seems to be less and less separa-tion between the first and second unit, and even James Franklin has admitted that he’s still searching for a shutdown unit to turn to at the end of the fourth quarter.

So is a College Football Playoff run still realistic? Is the offense good enough to mask the inexperi-enced defense?

History says yes. Logic does too.Flawed teams are no stranger to

the College Football Playoff. Even though no CFP winner has

ranked lower than 26th in scoring defense, four out of the 16 teams that have made the playoff have ranked outside the top-25 in scor-ing defense.

In 2014, Florida State wasn’t all that spectacular on either side of the ball, ranking No. 35 in offensive scoring and No. 49 in defensive scoring.

But the Seminoles did have a star quarterback-running back tandem in Jameis Winston and Dalvin Cook.

Thanks to Winston’s clutch play and Cook’s game-breaking ability, Florida State edged out seven wins by one possession that season.

Then there’s the team that beat the Seminoles, Oregon, whose defense was average at best. On offense, the Ducks surrounded Heisman winning quarterback Marcus Mariota with a true fresh-man at running back and an inex-perienced core at receiver outside of Bralon Addison and Keanon Lowe.

Then there’s last year’s Oklaho-ma squad. The similarities between Penn State and the 2017 Oklahoma team go beyond the Baker Mayfield and Trace McSor-ley comparisons or the fact that

both teams recently dropped Rose Bowls in heartbreaking fashion.

The Sooners rode the No. 3 scor-ing offense and top-ranked offense in terms of yardage to clinch their second-ever playoff appearance with a defense that ranked No. 67 in yards allowed and No. 68 in scoring.

The point of this isn’t to say that Penn State will make the playoff because they’re similar to other for-mer playoff teams on paper.

You could make a case for at least 25 percent of power five teams by making those kind of comparisons.

But rather, to show that squads with major issues have navigated their way to the playoff through challenging schedules with clutch quarterback play and a bit of luck.

Challenging schedule? Check. But it isn’t unmanageable.

An Ohio State offense that’s led by an extremely accurate passer, two elite running backs and a mam-moth-sized offensive line will push the Nittany Lions’ untested defen-sive core to its limit this weekend.

Then in November, a road trip to Ann Arbor against a Michigan team that’s looked significantly better in recent weeks won’t be easy.

There’s still a mismatch between Wisconsin’s offensive line and the Nittany Lions’ thin interior defen-sive line. But that game suddenly doesn’t look so bad considering the fact that Alex Hornibrook refuses to show the sort of improvement that everyone has expected.

That contest and another tricky matchup against Mark Dantonio’s Michigan State Spartans are both at

home, where Penn State hasn’t lost since McSorley took over as a start-er. Of course, anything can happen. Chaos runs its course every college football season and it will again this year.

But I’ve always thought that this schedule played into the favor of the Nittany Lions, especially because of No. 9, who I believe to be the most clutch quarterback in the country.

Discredit this Penn State defense as much as you want.

The lack of experience is far from ideal, and I personally don’t even know if this team as a whole is any better than the past two years.

But the offense is probably improved from a year ago and primed for a historic season.

As far as I’m concerned, Miles Sanders is a better fit for this offense than Saquon Barkley and this offensive line is as good as I’ve seen it in a long time.

Now, I’m obviously not suggesting that Sanders is more talented than Barkley — I don’t think anyone on Earth that would say that.

But Sanders’ skill set is a perfect fit for Ricky Rahne’s offense, as dis-played throughout the first four games.

Out at receiver, KJ Hamler is the kind of speedy and shifty receiver that the Nittany Lions haven’t had in a decade, probably since Derrick Williams.

So if Rahne’s offense can keep scoring at a torrid pace, then yes, I like Penn State’s odds to play in either Miami or Dallas come the end of December.

MY VIEW | PATRICK BURNS

Caitlin Lee/Collegian

Quarterback Trace McSorley (9) looks to make a pass to wide receiver KJ

Hamler (1) against Kent State at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 15.

Aabha Vora/Collegian

Miles Sanders (24) celebrates with Ryan Bates (52) after

scoring a touchdown against Appalachian State on Sept. 1.

Penn State’s O-line is no fluke

By Patrick BurnsThe Daily Collegian

Trace McSorley and Miles Sanders have stolen the headlines through the first four weeks of the season, and rightfully so.

But after every game, Sanders is quick to let reporters know that he can’t do it on his own.

“First, I want to thank the O-line,” Sanders said after rushing for a career high 200 yards and three touchdowns in a 63-24 thrashing of Illinois. “I don’t think y’all know how much I really appreciate them and I told them that today...They played a hell of a game.”

Sanders’ habit of showing thanks to the guys in front of him isn’t unlike that of his predecessor, Saquon Barkley, who often went out of his way to praise his offensive line-men. Only this time, there isn’t any disputing the fact that Sanders is right.

Penn State’s big maulers have paved the way for the nation’s highest scoring offense and a top-10 rushing at-tack, while allowing just four sacks.

The Nittany Lions have rushed for more than 200 yards in seven consecutive games, including a 387-yard perfor-mance against Illinois, which ranks as the program’s best outing on the ground since 2006.

“Across the whole starting offensive line they’re all nas-ty up there,” Sanders said on a conference call Wednes-day. “They’re finishing blocks, pancaking people and just getting the job done.”

James Franklin has stated on multiple occasions that he feels as if he has six starting quality linemen, and an-other three or four capable of holding their own in the Big Ten.

They aren’t solely responsible for the Nittany Lions’ im-pressive mark of 55.5 points per game, but they deserve a fair amount of credit in an offense that has scored more rushing touchdowns than any other team in the country.

“I couldn’t do it without them,” Sanders told ESPN’s Holly Rowe after his team’s 51-6 destruction of Pitt.

***Anyone who has followed Penn State post-sanctions

seasons knows that this hasn’t always been the case.When Temple sacked Christian Hackenberg 10 times

in 2015, the Nittany Lions’ offensive line turned into the butt of a plethora of jokes, whether they were deserved or not.

Each season after that featured a similar promise to fans, reporters and the players themselves.

This is the year, they were often told. While Penn State’s offensive line certainly improved each season af-ter that, it was never a strength of the team.

Last year, opposing tacklers often stopped Barkley be-fore he could even cross the line of scrimmage, which is partly due to his running style, but not entirely.

Even without Barkley, DaeSean Hamilton or Mike Ge-sicki, those negative rushes have been reduced almost completely and the Nittany Lions’ offense looks as domi-nant as ever.

“I think we’re the best we’ve been in years,” starting left tackle Ryan Bates said. “Obviously since I’ve been here.”

“Our chemistry hasn’t been like this...We trust each other,” he continued. “Offensive line is about trust. I gotta trust the person next to me that he’s going to do his job and he’s gotta trust me that I’m going to do mine. And I think that’s the biggest thing with our offensive line right now is we trust each other.”

As a true freshman serving a redshirt year, Bates could only watch from the sidelines during the Temple game. Last season, he was put into a similar position.

After suffering a lower-body injury early against Ohio State, Bates sat on the sidelines as the Buckeyes held his team to just 91 rushing yards on 35 attempts and only 10 points in the second half. Ohio State eventually won 39-38 and claimed the Big Ten title at the end of the season.

Bates still has a bit of a sour taste in his mouth.“I feel like I could have been a difference-maker that

game,” he said Tuesday.Eleven months later, Bates has a chance at revenge

against one of, if not the most difficult defensive front the Nittany Lions will face all year.

“Their whole scheme is built around their D line,” Franklin said. “They play predominantly press coverage so the quarterback has to hold on to the ball, and they’re expecting those four D linemen to be able to get to the quarterback or cause the quarterback discomfort in the pocket.”

The Buckeyes are notably without star defensive end Nick Bosa, one of the top players in college football re-gardless of position. Even though the fact that Bosa is sideline makes things easier for Penn State, Ohio State’s D-line is as deep as any other in the country, boasting two legitimate NFL prospects in Dre’Mont Jones and Chase Young.

Penn State is well aware of it.“This is the first opponent we’ve played to this level,”

Franklin said. “One of probably the more talented ros-ters in the country, if not the most talented roster in the country. This is going to be a different type of challenge. There’s no doubt about that.”

But for the first time in quite a while, the Nittany Lions might have the talent to match it on the other side of the ball.

In addition to Bates and Connor McGovern, both of whom will likely be drafted in April if they opt to leave school a year early, Michal Menet has lived up to his five-star billing out of high school and Steven Gonzalez continues to be one of the top run-blocking guards in the conference.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is Will Fries, who graded out as ProFootballFocus’ top offensive lineman in the Big Ten last week by 10 points just three weeks after watch-ing Chasz Wright run with the starting unit in his place.

“We’ve gotten bigger,” Franklin said. “We’ve gotten stronger.”

To email reporter: pab5404@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @PatrickBurns_.

The Daily Collegian SePT. 27-30, 2018 | Page A5Versus

06MOM

DAD

By Matt LingermanThe Daily Collegian

Heading into 2018, Penn State’s linebacker situation was murky.

Cam Brown and Koa Farmer were returning on the outside, but it was anyone’s guess who would be manning the middle.

In addition, formerly suspend-ed starter Manny Bowen was re-instated briefly at the beginning of the preseason before later re-moving himself from the team not too long after.

Four weeks into the season, the Nittany Lions are still six players deep in the linebacking corps and many wonder how long the rota-tion can go on.

James Franklin said after beat-ing Illinois Saturday a main com-ponent for the cycling of players is that no one has yet to separate himself from the pack.

But some players who weren’t necessarily expected to be main contributors this season are mak-ing their presence in the pack felt.

With each passing week, sec-ond-string middle linebacker El-lis Brooks has been asked to do more and has delivered on every occasion.

“ [ B r o o k s ] has made a lot of strides in the right direction since camp,” safe-ty Garrett Taylor said. “The more he’s out there the more comfortable he’s getting. He’s making plays. He runs really well to the ball, he’s a solid tackler in the box.”

Brooks cur-rently ranks ninth on the team with 11 tackles.

While that number is not over-whelming, it is impressive con-sidering he’s been on the field for less than 30 percent of Penn State’s defensive plays this sea-son, according to Roar Lions Roar’s weekly snap counts.

Each week, Brooks has played more downs than the week before and his production has skyrock-eted.

After totaling five tackles in the first three games, Brooks took part in a season-high 32 plays against Illinois and finished

with six tackles, including half of a sack.

“He’s become more of a vocal leader, commanding the defense

when he’s out there, and knowing ex-actly where he needs to be,” starting middle linebacker Jan Johnson said.

Brooks, a redshirt fresh-man, isn’t the biggest MIKE linebacker at 6-foot-1, 233 pounds. But he plays to his strengths.

“[Brooks is] a slip-up block

guy, compared to those other guys, but what you can’t do is go down the middle,” Franklin said. “You have to be on the edge, so now you can get off, and you’re beating half a man rather than trying to go through the whole body.”

Aside from combining for his first career sack against the Illini, Brooks also secured his first in-terception in the fourth quarter of Penn State’s Big Ten opener.

On a third down and medium situation and with the Nittany Lion defense playing nickel,

Brooks quickly diagnosed a but-ton hook from the uncovered slot receiver and sprinted to his left to make a running grab.

The Mechanicsville, Virginia native showed notable athleti-cism and quickness not only to get to the ball, but also to return it 28 yards. But it’s the cerebral side of the game Brooks is more concerned with.

“When I came into Penn State I definitely considered myself smart,” Brooks said in August. “The biggest thing that changed for me was that I came in here, I learned the defense and what I gotta do, but the biggest thing about MIKE linebacker is you have to know what everybody has to do, so that’s where I really grew this spring. I really have a good understanding of the de-fense now.”

In just his first year of eligibility, making plays like the pick proves he possesses a significant com-prehension of perhaps the most challenging position on defense.

“He’s grown mentally,” run-ning back Miles Sanders said. “At a young age and just now starting to play on the field, it’s difficult, playing the MIKE spot is like playing quarterback of the defense. He has to know a lot, he has to know what everybody’s do-ing, and he’s doing a pretty good job of it. He’s making plays.”

A major factor in Brooks’ speedy mental growth is that he considers himself a student of the game.

He said he likes to pick at de-fensive coordinator and lineback-ers coach Brent Pry’s brain about different defensive formations, and asks fellow linebackers like Farmer for guidance. It takes a certain level of maturity to occu-py the middle of the No. 9 team in

the country’s defense, regardless of who the opposition is.

Although he doesn’t yet have the game experience to have gained that wisdom, he makes up for it in other areas.

“I trust my coaches,” Brooks said. “Coach Pry especially, and coach Franklin. Everybody here tries to get me better and devel-op me. I trust them in what they do. Since I’ve been here they’ve helped me get better at this game and make me more mature, on and off the field, so I definitely think by the time I leave here, they will have milked everything out of me.”

With Penn State’s defense’s most challenging test of the sea-son coming up on Saturday, it’s unclear whether Franklin and Pry will continue to rotate players as much as they have.

But if recent games are any indicator, Brooks is going to be on the field for some important snaps, and that’s a good thing for Penn State.

“It’s huge that he’s been able to step up and show not only the coaches but also the other guys on defense that he can be trust-ed,” Taylor said.

“I’m proud of him and happy for him and he’s gonna be huge for our defense moving forward this season.”

To email reporter: w@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @linger_man.

Linebacker Ellis Brooks is trending up

John Stinely/Collegian

Penn State linebacker Ellis Brooks (13) and safety Jonathan Sutherland (26) tackle a Kent State player dur-

ing the Penn State versus Kent State game at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 15.

Caitlin Lee/Collegian

Linebacker Ellis Brooks (13) celebrates a tackle during the game against

Illinois at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Sept. 21.

“I trust my

coaches... I trust

them in what they

do. Since I’ve been

here they’ve helped

me get better at

this game and make

me more mature,

on and off the field.”Ellis Brooks

Middle Linebacker

ruNDOWN

PENN STATE

VS.

OHIO STATE

GAME INFOPenn State vs. Ohio StateTime: 7:30 p.m. SaturdayPlace: Beaver Stadium TV: ABCSpread: Ohio State -3.5 Over/under: 71

PLAYERS

TO WATCH

With Mark Allen out for the year, Ricky Slade will likely be the lone tailback who receives reps behind Miles Sanders. Slade could be a weapon for Ricky Rahne against the Ohio State defense.

BY THE

NUMBERS

Penn State and Ohio State combined for 77 points in last season’s matchup.

77

Penn State: RB Ricky Slade

Ohio State: WR Parris Campbell

8

Trace McSorley completed just eight passes the last time Ohio State visited Beaver Stadium.

275

Penn State is averaging 275 yards on the ground through the first four games of the season.

34

This will be the 34th all-time meeting between the two schools. Ohio State currently leads the series, 18-14.

The Daily Collegian

The Buckeyes have plenty of offensive weapons, but Par-ris Campbell might be the most dangerous. Whether he’s used as a receiver, on jet sweeps or on returns, Penn State will have to keep its eyes on him all night.

Page A6 | SePT. 27-30, 2018

Tyler KingWhat to watch

for: If I were a bet-ting man, I’d stay far away from this one. Ohio state is better on paper, but I’m going to throw that paper out the window. A Trace Mcsorley-led

Penn state during a white out is too hard to bet against.

score: Penn state 42, Ohio state 38

Matt LingermanWhat to

watch for: One thing is for sure, there will be no shortage of points in this one. Ohio state has been so impressive to watch this year and will likely be

the biggest test for Alabama. I just think Haskins is too tall a task for this defense.

score: Ohio state 49, Penn state 35

Thomas Schlarp

Eckert

Lingerman Schlarp

Sports Social Media:

What to watch for: Between Penn state’s youth, urban Meyer’s return and the stress the whiteout will put on Ohio state’s offense, there are numerous variables that will determine the out-

come of this one. score: Ohio state 52, Penn state

45

David EckertWhat to watch

for: unless it’s bet-ting the over, stay away from this game. I’m split 50-50, but I said at the beginning of the year that I’d bet on Trace Mcsorley

until he proved me wrong. He hasn’t yet. Penn state pulls out a close one as Miles sanders has another career outing.

score: Penn state 51, Ohio state 48

Patrick BurnsWhat to watch

for: I always thought I wouldn’t pick against Penn state before I saw them lose before my own eyes. But here I go. This Ohio state team is the

most talented I’ve seen in years and Dwayne Haskins is a clear Heisman candidate. They win in a shootout.

score: Ohio state 44, Penn state 41

King Burns

The Dwayne Haskins challengeAP file photo

Tyler KingThe Daily Collegian

When the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes makes their way to Happy Valley this week, they’ll bring with them a Heisman candidate quarterback to lead their high-powered offense. That’s not at all unusual for this matchup.

But that’s where the similari-ties end.

For the majority of the last de-cade, Ohio State’s offenses have been built around mobile quar-terbacks like Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett.

This year, Urban Meyer’s team still runs an up-tempo of-fense, but the player in charge is a completely different style of quarterback.

Dwayne Haskins, the strong-armed redshirt sophomore, is the new captain of the Buckeye offense.

Even though he is familiar to the Penn State coaching staff, this new version of the Ohio State offense is not. The Nittany Lions have not seen an Ohio State quarterback as polished as a passer.

“He’s a good quarterback. He’s talented, has a strong arm. He’s not as mobile as JT [Bar-

rett] or Braxton [Miller],” safety Garrett Taylor said. “It’s differ-ent from what we’re used to see-ing these past couple years and I think it has changed their offense and how they attack defenses a little bit differently. They’re stick-ing to a few more base run plays that don’t have a QB option out of it.”

During Barrett’s four seasons in Columbus, his highest comple-tion percentage over the course of a season was 64.7 percent on 8.2 yards per attempt.

Through four games this sea-son, Haskins is completing over 75 percent of his passes on 10.38 yards per attempt.

Barrett threw for over 300 yards in a game in eight of his 50 career games.

But Haskins has thrown for over 300 yards in three of the four games this season and the only time he didn’t was in the 49-point blowout win over Rut-gers in which he only attempted 23 passes, although completing 20 of them.

Of course, the Buckeyes lone test this season has been against then-No. 15 TCU.

But, Haskins passed with flying colors in what was arguably his best game of the season.

Although he completed a

season-low 63.2 percent of his throws, he finished with a career-high 344 passing yards.

“His ability to throw the ball down the field is pretty good in the packet,” linebacker Jan John-son said. “He seems to be on the money when he’s comfortable.”

Haskins has looked very com-fortable during Ohio State’s first four games of the season and a lot of that has to do with the play of the experienced offensive line, as well as the talented skill posi-tion players that are surrounding him.

“Probably an ideal situation for a first-time starter, the talent that he is surrounded with is impres-sive, the running backs, the wide receivers, and probably the best offensive line that we’ve seen at Ohio State in the last four years,” James Franklin said Tuesday.

The Maryland native, who Penn State recruited, hasn’t faced much pressure this season and it could play a major impact in the game if the Nittany Lions are able to find a sustainable pass rush — something they haven’t had consistently this season.

But that’s easier said than done.

“Being able to get pressure on the quarterback is not something that people have necessarily con-

sistently been able to do against them, for a couple of reasons,” Franklin said. “Number one, I think the quarterback does a good job of getting the ball out of his hands quickly, and I think they’ve done a good job with their scheme and the talent that they have at wide out that typically his first or second progression is open because of the scheme and because of the talent, that he’s not holding on to the ball very long as well.”

The last time the Buckeyes played in Beaver Stadium, the pass rush generated by the Penn State defensive line in the fourth quarter helped seal the 24-21, up-set victory.

They know they’ll have to find that pass rush again if they want to take down a top-five Ohio State team again.

“I think it’ll make it hard to beat any team if you don’t get pressure on the quarterback, and especially Dwayne,” defensive end Shareef Miller said. “Just the way he has been putting up num-bers these past couple games. So that’s going to be a real focus point for us to get pressure on him.”

To email reporter: tbk5155@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @King_TylerB.

PSU doesn’t need a lone eraserBy Thomas Schlarp

The Daily Collegian

Two words have dominated the discussions surrounding the Ohio State-Penn State matchup this weekend.

“White out” and “eraser.”With all the buzz about white

out and the need to find an “eraser” on the Penn State de-fense, one could easily be led to believe the Nittany Lion defense was a big mistake written in ink, in dire need of some cover-up.

And perhaps a lot of that trepi-dation is warranted.

Penn State has yet to deliver four quarters of staunch de-fense. It surrendered 35 points in a quarter to Appalachian State, 214 rushing yards in a single half against Pitt and let Illinois running backs Mike Ep-stein and Reggie Corbin gash a porous defensive line at a 7.2 yards per carry clip.

“I think we realized it was go-ing to be a work in progress,” Franklin said of his defense. “We have inexperienced veterans, and we have a bunch of young guys. The experience is critical and we lack it.”

And with the Buckeyes bring-

ing the second-highest scoring offense in the nation, bolstered by Heisman candidate Dwayne Haskins and his sixth-best pass-ing offense in the country averag-ing almost 366 yards per game, some red flags should go up.

But the quest for a single pana-cea, a lone game-changer to save the Penn State defense is unnec-essary.

“You want to give respect where respect is due, but we also want to give ourselves credit,” safety Garrett Taylor said. “I’ve been talking a lot this whole off-season that we have as much confidence in ourselves….As tal-ented as [Ohio State] is on the of-fensive side at receiver and quar-terback, we are just as talented.”

That’s the thing. Penn State is just as talented. The Nittany Li-ons are at a point now that they have blue-chip athletes across the board. It’s just a matter of taking the raw talent that the de-fense has shown flashes of this year and getting a consistent per-formance against the Buckeyes.

“What I’m looking for with players, is consistency,” Franklin said. “Almost every single player on our roster can make pretty impressive athletic plays or they

wouldn’t be here. And that’s pret-ty much our entire roster.”

So while much focus is given to the lapses the defense has shown in each game, it’s important to remember that it did also bounce back to hold Pitt to 31 rushing yards.

It did hold Appalachian State to 10 points for three quarters.

It did sack Kent State seven times.

Against the Buckeyes, it just needs to be more Jekyll and less Hyde. And it could be as simple as just not trying to be a standout player.

“The biggest issue has been execution,” linebacker Jan John-son said. “It’s not been anything that someone has been physically better than us. We just have to ex-ecute our job.”

Rather than being plainly out-matched on defense, it really has been an accumulation of little things.

One of the biggest issues all season has been poor tackling and defenders sticking to their gap assignments.

“Coach Pry talks a lot about making sure nobody is trying to do something extra,” Taylor said. “Everyone is just playing in the

framework of the defense. If we can correct that and make sure everyone is just doing their job, not trying to do too much and being gap accountable, that will clean up a lot of the issues.”

There’s no question that Ohio State’s offense is like nothing Penn State has seen yet this sea-son, but both Franklin and Buck-eyes’ coach Urban Meyer have said this week that it really isn’t all that different from years past.

Many of the same skill position players remain from last year. The two-headed monster at run-ning back with Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins, Parris Campbell and his speed at the wideout and a hulking offensive line are noth-ing new.

Haskins is an obvious threat-ening curveball, but the Nittany Lions know that getting pressure on him, like any other quarter-back, will make him uncomfort-able and hopefully force the soph-omore into errors.

“They’re explosive,” Taylor said. “They have a lot of talent at the skill positions. A lot of speed. We’ve seen it in years past, and we’re going to be prepared for it.”

Visit collegian.psu.edu. to read the full story.

The Daily Collegian SePT. 27-30, 2018 | Page A7

The Daily CollegianVersusPage A8 | SePT. 27-30, 2018

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College GameDay cast

By Thomas SchlarpThe Daily Collegian

It’s the pinnacle of every College GameDay show, the moment every fan in attendance has been anticipating. It’s 11:59 a.m..

With bated breath, the howl-ing crowd turns all attention to unarguably the greatest 83-year-old man in the history of college football.

What headgear will Lee Corso bestow upon his noggin, an endorsement of the team he favors to win in that night’s game?

The tradition dates back to Oct. 5, 1996 when for the very first time, Corso placed the Brutus

Buckeye mascot head on as he correctly predicted Ohio State to defeat No. 4 Penn State in Columbus.

Since that inaugural pick, Corso has gone 208-112 in his headgear selections, a 65 percent accuracy. The former head coach has made eight headgear selections involv-ing Ohio State and Penn State matchups and has never once put on the Nittany Lion head. He is 6-2 when picking the Buckeyes to beat Penn State.

But Corso is not alone in mak-ing game prognostications on the GameDay stage. Joined by Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, host Rece Davis and occasionally David Pollack, which former col-lege football standout is the most

accurate picker when it comes to Penn State games?

Since James Franklin became the head coach in 2014, the Game-Day crew has predicted 27 Penn State games. Not each cast mem-ber made a pick for each game, as will be the case for Herbstreit this weekend since he’ll be in the booth calling the contest with Chris Fowler.

And to no one’s surprise, Corso is the most accurate of the bunch. Since 2014, Corso is 19-8 in games involving the Nittany Lions, a 70 percent accuracy. Pollack ranks second with an 8-4 record, a 67 percent accuracy. Herbstreit is a close third, going 17-9, 65 percent accurate.

Bringing up the rear in a dis-

tant last place is the former Heis-man winner and Michigan alum Desmond Howard. Howard is just 13-13 selecting Penn State games, a 50 percent accuracy. In fact, he is the only member of the cast to pick against the Nittany Lions in over half of his picks (14 times).

Chris (Bear) Fallica has picked Penn State games on four occa-sions. He focuses on the gambling aspect of the picks and uses the point spread in making his selec-tions. Fallica has correctly picked Penn State games three times, most recently taking Washington (+3) in the Fiesta Bowl this past January.

So as we all wait until one min-ute before noon on Saturday, re-member that wait is worth it for

the true expert of the GameDay crew. Corso is riding a three-game hot streak in headgear games involving Penn State, dat-ing back to correctly selecting USC to top the Nittany Lions in the 2017 Rose Bowl.

Last year, Corso correctly picked Penn State to beat the Wolverines hours after crowd surfing down the fans in front of Old Main.

While Brutus may be one of his favorite mascot heads to wear, maybe the ninth time picking be-tween the two Big Ten rivals will officially be the charm for Corso to pick the Nittany Lions.

To email reporter: rts5199@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @TSchlarp.

ESPN’s College GameDay adds an extra level of excitement during game week, but which of the show’s personalities has the most reliable picks?

Chris Sanders/Collegian

ESPN College GameDay’s Lee Corso dons the Nittany Lion head just after selecting Penn State to beat Michigan on Oct. 21, 2017.

Vol. 119, No. 12 sept. 27-30, 2018

By Maddie AikenThe Daily Collegian

Many Penn State fans revered, and continue to revere Joe Pa-terno. History may be repeating itself at Ohio State with head football coach Urban Meyer.

A Penn State sociology profes-sor said fans’ devotion to their schools and their coaches re-flects a strong identification with their school.

As Penn State and Ohio State fans are highly anticipating Mey-er’s return to Beaver Stadium this Saturday, some are drawing comparisons between how the recent Zach Smith domestic-abuse case and the Jerry San-dusky sex-abuse case from 2011 were handled by their respective universities and how their fan bases have reacted.

In August, Meyer was put on a three-game suspension be-

cause he allegedly knew Smith, the Buckeye’s assistant coach, was physically abusing his wife, Courtney. Meyer officially re-tuned to the game-day field on Sep. 22.

Colin Gay — the sports edi-tor for Ohio State’s student-run newspaper, The Lantern — said the general consensus at the university seems to be Meyer’s punishment was too extreme.

“The Ohio State fan base is very loyal,” Gay said. “They just want Urban Meyer back on the sideline, no matter what he did — or allegedly did or allegedly knew — about the Zach Smith situation.”

In fact, Gay said he doubts a large portion of the Ohio State fan base will ever denounce Meyer or the team based on al-legations and ethical dilemmas. He said he believes many fans will support the team, as long as

it continues to have success on the field.

The behaviors and attitudes described by Gay are not isolat-ed cases in history, however. The Ohio State students are acting in accordance with tribalism — a term Penn State sociology pro-fessor Sam Richards defined as “an extreme identification with some particular group that can lead to irrational assessments of reality.”

At its core, tribalism is nation-alism on a smaller scale.

As freshmen, many Penn State students experience the ef-fects of tribalism as they are so-cialized into university culture. Between “We Are” chants and white out games, many students begin to think Penn State is the “best university in the world.”

This irrational belief, Rich-ards said, reflects the impact of tribalism.

The same principle can be applied to most Ohio State stu-dents, who may also believe their school is the best in the world.

Currently, Gay said Zach and Courtney Smith are not at the forefront of most discussions surrounding the situation at Ohio State. Instead, most fans are concerned with Meyer.

“If Urban Meyer continues to win, [Ohio State fans] may just feel that the football team, the program and Meyer are just go-ing back to normal,” Gay said.

Gay said Meyer has been “the true, consistent face” of Ohio State football since 2012, and fans don’t like that the team’s face is gone.

“This team has been very suc-cessful during [Meyer’s] tenure at Ohio State, and [fans] have — and arguably still do, to an ex-tent, — look at him in a favorable light,” Gay said.

During a 12-hour deliberation of Ohio State’s Board of Trust-ees, students and other fans crowded around Meyer’s parked car and voiced support for the coach. Freshmen used their school-issued iPads as signs, writing phrases such as “Free Urban Meyer” and “Michigan Sucks” across the screens.

Ohio State students are also showing signs of a phenomenon called “groupthink,” a subset of tribalism. “Groupthink,” Rich-ards said, occurs when a “group develops a life of its own such that the group makes an irratio-nal and absurd decision.”

Individuals would make a different decision, absent the group’s influence, Richards said.

Richards said groupthink causes people to overlook “fun-damental truths” about what-ever they are assessing. While an impartial individual might react one way to the Meyer case,

students who identify with the Ohio State community — and are therefore — influenced by the group might change their thoughts, beliefs and actions to act in accordance with the group.

Still, “groupthink” and trib-alism can happen all the time when people identify within a group.

“I think it’s part of the hu-man condition, somehow,” Rich-ards said. “We want to believe in something larger than our-selves, and we want to be con-nected.”

While members from the Ohio State community believed Meyer’s suspension was an ad-equate or overly severe punish-ment, individuals from rivalry schools were quick to claim Meyer’s punishment was not se-vere enough.

See TriBaliSm, Page B2.

Analyzing fan devotion at PSU, OSU

By Lilly ForsythThe Daily Collegian

On a Friday night in Webster’s Bookstore and Café, a gaggle of drag queens laughed as one queen, Laurel Charleston, passed a bingo ball to another, Bonzai Bucket.

“O69!” Bucket said, exagger-atedly moving their hands down their corseted body. The audience crowded into the main sitting area of Webster’s and erupted with cheers as a few older pa-trons excitedly shook their hands in the air. Charleston, a Drag Bin-go host, grabbed the microphone and expressed her gratitude that she had a safe space to be herself — something that’s not always easy to come by in State College.

Recently, Luke Nosal — a transgender, non-binary student whose drag persona is the fe-male Laurel Charleston — said they had a negative experience at Chumley’s bar in downtown State College, a bar known by many to be an LGBTQ-friendly place.

Nosal (graduate-professional performance certificate) first vis-ited the bar when they turned 21 in their senior year at Penn State, and would often persuade friends who wanted to go to other bars to go to Chumley’s instead.

Part of this was inspired by the fact that Nosal said they have occasionally not been served at other bars in State College but

always got service at Chumley’s.In Nosal’s opinion, however,

the atmosphere they frequently experienced was eventually one of the reasons they began to feel uncomfortable.

“I think it says a lot about that bar that there aren’t that many young people that go there,” No-sal said. “It’s mostly just older people.”

On the contrary, Nosal has found what they feel are more welcoming environments for LG-BTQ students — like Webster’s.

The café frequently hosts drag events and also plans to create a clothing drive that assists trans-gender and gender non-binary community members.

According to Nosal, a recent experience at Chumley’s with a disagreeable customer has made the space feel unsafe.

Nosal said the customer used a transphobic slur to describe another customer and refused to stop saying it, even when repeat-edly asked to stop — a confronta-tion Nosal said was witnessed by Chumley’s bartender Justin Grif-fin.

“I had a bartender here,” Ellen Braun, Chumley’s manager, said of that night. “I was here, in and out of the room and many cus-tomers were sitting near. The bar is very small.”

Nosal said they later went back to Chumley’s after being asked to sit down with Griffin and Braun,

to resolve the issue.“I made every effort to find out

what had happened from Luke and from all the other people around,” Braun said. “There were conflicting narratives.”

At this meeting, Nosal said Braun and Griffin denied the con-frontation happened. Nosal also said Braun repeatedly used the previously mentioned homopho-bic term during the conversation, insinuating it is used “jokingly all the time.”

“You can’t say that [word],” No-sal said. “As a cisgender person, you don’t get to say what words offend what people if you’re not part of that group. You can’t say what offends the trans commu-nity.”

Nosal took to Instagram and shared their experience, add-ing that they submitted a lower Google rating to reflect their in-teraction at the bar.

Within hours, the Google ratings for the establishment dropped to under three stars from a previous nearly five stars.

“I thought that [Chumley’s] would have our community’s back,” Nosal said. “I thought I was going to get their support. It just felt like the whole world was pulled out underneath me.”

Chumley’s began to respond to Facebook ratings as well, remind-ing everyone that its “survival de-pends on inclusiveness.”

Chumley’s is one of the six establishments owned by Hotel State College & Co. and is sand-wiched between The Corner

Room and The Basement Night-spot.

Its recognizable rainbow sign aims seemingly to distinguish the establishment as the inclusive bar of the area.

Part of the College Avenue landscape for over three decades, the bar was created by a married couple primarily as a space for professors to grab lunch, accord-ing to Braun.

A prior manager of Chumley’s also worked at Mr. C’s — an LG-BTQ-friendly dance club previ-ously located at the current Base-ment Nightspot property — and had many LGBTQ friends and brought them to the bar, Braun said.

“It’s no secret that our brand is literally built on inclusiveness,” Hotel State College & Co. Direc-tor of Operations Curtis Shulman said. “The purpose and existence of Chumley’s is to just create a fun environment for everyone that’s inclusive.”

Braun, who considers herself an ally to the LGBTQ community, applied to be a bartender roughly 26 years ago and has stayed on with the bar ever since.

Through the years, she said she has personally made an ef-fort to educate herself about the LGBTQ community by attend-ing talks, community events and campus seminars.

A flood of positive Facebook ratings appeared in the days fol-lowing the patch of lower ratings highlighting Braun’s interaction with the customers and the “wel-

coming” atmosphere. “I hope everyone feels safe,”

Braun said. “Our goal is always to make everybody welcome.”

When asked about the incident, Shulman explained that it can be “challenging” to act on any ac-cusations because he is a “third party” who was not present and can only rely on hearsay.

“We have to react the best way we can and… keep our atmo-sphere happy and open and inclu-sive as possible,” Shulman said.

Shulman also explained that there are no security cameras in the bar to determine exactly what happened.

But no matter how “welcom-ing” Braun assures Chumley’s is, Nosal said they’ve been betrayed by their own community.

In terms of redemption, Nosal doesn’t feel that will be possible.

“You already showed me per-sonally what you really think,” Nosal said. “They can go and say that they apologize… but if you think it’s okay to say that to a trans person… you should not be working at a bar that claims to be a safe space.”

Editor’s note: The Collegian follows AP style, which is a stan-dard in the industry. AP style uses the acronym LGBTQ, leav-ing out the ‘A.’ The ‘A’ is believed by some to stand for ‘Ally,’ and by others ‘Asexual.’

To email reporter: lnf5121@psu.edu.

Follow her on Twitter at: @lillyforsyth_.

Brianna Morgan/Collegian

Chumley’s Bar sign in downtown State College on Sunday, Sept. 23.

‘Betrayed By my own community’

Cameron Hart/Collegian

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer looks at the score board during the

first quarter as Penn State played Ohio State at Beaver Stadium on Satur-

day, Oct. 22, 2016. Penn State defeated Ohio State 24-21.

Chumley’s bar under scrutiny following transgender student’s negative experience

Collegian Creative

Collegian file photo

Police officers on horses try to get students to leave downtown State

College after they rushed the streets to riot on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016, and

celebrated Penn State defeating Ohio State 24-21.

lOcAl The Daily CollegianPage B2 | SePT. 27-30, 2018

Among the many memorable experiences available at Penn State are football Saturdays, spent inside Beaver Stadium or in the community beyond. We’ve been credited by others as having the best college game day experience in all of college football. If you haven’t been to a game or participated in related events, go when you can. It’s an experience not to be missed.

But it’s important to remember that the quality of the football experience at Penn State extends to how we treat our team’s competition and the competition’s visiting fans. We are proud of our heritage of sportsmanship, welcoming, and good-natured competitiveness. That heritage is as important to us as our team’s success on the field. It’s a heritage we are obligated to treat well and pass along to those who follow us at Penn State. It’s a characteristic that once achieved sets us apart.

Whether we win or lose, Penn Staters honor the competition and those with whom we compete. We do not belittle the other team or its coaches and certainly not its fans. We do not insult them or make them uncomfortable. We do not do so even if they seem to have done things with which we otherwise disagree. This respect toward the other team, its coaches, and its supporters is what it should mean to be a Penn State fan.

With key games immediately ahead against stiff competition, we ask that you keep these thoughts in mind. How we treat our visiting competition in the coming weekends will tell as much about who we are as the final scores. Let’s honor our school and our community and their rich heritage. Let’s reinforce the Penn State values of respect and responsibility. Let’s give ourselves and our community one more reason to be proud.

Mohsin Ali (Blue & White Society)

Sam Anawalt (Council of Sustainable Leaders)

Thomas Beeby (Senior Class Gift Committee)

Alyssa Berdan (Penn State Homecoming)

Cara Bosso (Student Athlete Advisory Board)

Elliot Bruce (Black Student Union)

Anamaria Calixto (Adult Learners of Penn State)

Greg Carvajal (CCSG)

Fanta Conde (Muslim Students’ Association)

Raenika Crew (NAACP Penn State)

Cassandra Diehl (College of Ed Student Council)

Katierose Epstein (College Democrats)

Jodi Francis (Caribbean Student Assoc.)

Gabriel Green (Black Graduate Student Assoc.)

Lauren Harris (NPHC)

Johnna Hayward (Smeal Student Council)

Cody Heaton (UPUA)

Michael Hoeschele (Board of Trustees)

Mahnoor Khan (Eberly College of Sci. Stud Cncl)

Benjamen Kline (Council of Lionhearts)

Deja Lewis (NPHC)

Carrie Lin (Asian Pacific American Caucus)John Lord (IFC)

Reagan McCarthy (College Republicans)

Kelly MCready (THON)

Clare McHugh (State of State)

Maddy Mitchell (Council of Sustainable Leaders)

Ross Michael (The Lion 90.7FM WKPS)

Phoebe Millspaugh (Movin’ On)

Brooke Mitchell (LGBTQA Student Roundtable)

Kyle Munro (Off-Campus Student Union)

Emilie Naidoff (Penn State Hillel)

Kayla Olowin (ARHS)

Danieltta Pantoe (Black Caucus)

Nick Pazuchanics (Lion Ambassadors)

Francesgladys Pulido (MGC)

Jeremy Perdomo (Dominican Student Assoc.)

Brianne Pragg (GPSA)

Courtney Rodrigues (The Panhellenic Council)

Thomas Reuther (Campus Recreation)

Zach Robinson (Lion Caucus)

Samantha Ruland (The Daily Collegian)

Taylor Sapp (Penn State Veteran’s Organization)

Tomas Sanchez (Latino Caucus)

Samantha Schnurman (College of Com Student Cncl)

Daniel Stauffer (UPAC)

Samantha Whitney (SPA)

Marissa Works (Performing Arts Council)

Xin Xia (International Student Council)

Jilan Zhang (Chinese Students & Scholars Assoc.)

Damon SimsVice President for Student Affairs

Student Leaders Roundtable

Sincerely,

To the Penn State Community:

Paid Advertisement from Penn State Student Affairs

Courtney Taylor/Collegian

“College GameDay” trucks sit on Pollock Road on Wednesday, Sept. 26. The weekly Saturday morning show will be held on Old Main lawn

for the second straight year as No. 9 Penn State prepares to host No. 4 Ohio State. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29.

Big gameDay energy

TribalismFrom Page B1.

Richards acknowledged that some Penn State students’ anger is based solely in seeking justice. However, he said, some outrage is simply based in the rivalry be-tween the two schools.

When allegations about Meyer first came forward, many were quick to draw comparisons to Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse case — despite the number of individuals directly im-pacted in both situations.

Both situations involve well-liked coaches who some believe failed to take significant enough actions against crimes they alleg-edly knew were happening.

In many ways, Penn State fans acted similarly to how Ohio State

fans have — potentially to the ex-tent of tribalism. However, while sociological responses were simi-lar, the cases themselves have many differences, which could imply different intents behind student reactions.

Anna Orso, a 2014 Penn State graduate, covered the Sandusky case as a crimes reporter for The Daily Collegian, when it broke in 2011.

Orso said the story did not gain traction among students in the beginning, with many aspects of the case unclear. That changed when Paterno made headlines.

Initial feelings of sadness and confusion surrounding Paterno and Sandusky quickly turned into angry rioting when news broke that the Penn State Board of Trustees fired the beloved head coach, Orso said.

“Almost as soon as the an-nouncement was made, all hell broke loose,” Orso said.

“I’ve never seen anything like what I saw that night, which was just a sea of thousands of stu-dents who were extremely angry at the board, and the press, and the world.”

Still, Orso said she does not be-lieve students were ignoring the victims. Instead, they didn’t have all the facts yet.

“I think there was a real mis-understanding about what Pa-terno knew and what his involve-ment may or may not have been,” Orso said.

A few days after Paterno was fired, Orso estimated 20,000 stu-dents attended a candlelight vigil for the victims.

“It was a really difficult time for everyone involved,” Orso said. “It

was a really rough time to be a Penn State student. I think every-one came away from it a little bit stronger.”

As time continues to pass, Orso said, she believes both students and Penn State fans are begin-ning to move past their idolization of Paterno.

However Orso said students, alumni and other fans continue to support the football team, now led by James Franklin.

However, Paterno’s legacy has not completely vanished from Penn State.

He still maintains a presence on the university’s campus— in the university library’s name, in merchandise sold in downtown stores and on the occasional T-shirts on game days.

While Paterno’s legacy has been mostly set in stone, the fate

of Meyer’s is still to be deter-mined.

While confusion and doubt swirls around both coaches’ al-leged knowledge, some groups of both Penn State and Ohio State fans continue to insist Paterno and Meyer had no prior knowl-edge of the incidents regardless of what evidence is or isn’t pre-sented.

Richards said this is because people often want to believe the best about a person whom they respect.

“When their perception of that person is challenged, their per-ception of the world comes into question,” Richards said. “People don’t believe because, in many cases, they don’t want to believe.”

To email reporter: mea5457@psu.edu.

Follow her on Twitter at @madsaiken.

‘Funky trunk’ shop set to close

By Maddie AikenThe Daily Collegian

Yet another State College small business is set to close its doors.

Funky Trunk, a consignment store, will close next week after two years of selling second-hand goods to the State College com-munity. The shop’s last day will be Saturday, Sept. 29.

Funky Trunk’s owner, Kathy Hume, credited the store’s clo-sure to several factors, including high rent and the store’s location.

Funky Trunk is located at 236 E. Calder Way, in the alley behind Urban Outfitters on East College Avenue.

Hume, 55, of State College, said stores that aren’t on College Av-enue struggle to attract as many customers. Despite that factor, rent is still high.

“It’s hard to survive as a small business downtown,” she said. “I think the face of downtown State College is going to change. It’s go-ing to be a lot of big businesses.”

Hume also noted that construc-tion, which is very common in State College, makes it difficult for people to access the store.

Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.

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OPINIONColsen AckroydBusiness Manager

Kara Fesolovich Opinion Page Editor

Kelly PowersEditor in Chief

Find a job you enjoy, but make sure it treats you right

When most of us graduate, we will immediately go on the hunt for a career. We might be

eager to take on the first one we find promising, but we need to be careful to make sure the decision for where our first careers will be will not become a regret.

Although I obviously do not have experience working in a career yet, a company recently laid off workers in a move that should be cautionary. Telltale, the company behind narrative-driven video games such as “The Wolf Among Us,” “The Walking Dead” and “Tales from the Borderlands,” dropped 250 employees without severance. They kept only 25 on staff in order to upkeep its responsibilities to other com-panies.

In the last few years, Telltale started pushing quantity over quality. It published games with prominent names, like “Game of Thrones” and “Mar-vel’s Guardians of the Galaxy,” but it put less endeavor into them as it did into previous

games. Stories went from being dynamic and influenced by players to being linear and unaffected.

The layoffs are reminiscent of Buzzfeed and its employees quitting because the company favoring quantity over quality.

When you pick a career, question the company’s priori-ties and how it treats its employees. Before the Telltale layoffs gave me pause, I could foresee myself eagerly leaping at the first career opportunity after I graduate without con-sidering these factors. I could get an offer for my dream job, and be tempted to accept with-out hesitation. But I have to realize it is important to con-sider the company’s morals.

If asked to list my needs in a career, I previously would have placed work environment last behind salary, benefits, location and other factors. If I was pur-suing a career in video game development, Telltale would have been a top choice of mine.

Brandon Cebenka, who was laid off by the game company, tweeted, “None of my sleepless nights or long hours on week-ends trying to ship a game on time got me severance today. Don’t work overtime unless

you’re paid for it, y’all. Protect your health. Companies don’t care about you.”

I don’t think it’s impossible for a company to care for its employees, but I do think peo-ple should research their repu-tation. Several major compa-nies, including Blizzard and Twitch, actually countered the statement that “companies don’t care about you” by reach-ing out to the former Telltale employees to offer them places on their staffs.

These companies’ sympathy toward the newly-unemployed demonstrates it is possible for a company to have morals and to treat its workers well. Tell-tale probably did, too, when it

was originally established. The shift from creating fully-devel-oped content that had heart put into it to focusing on sheer numbers was Telltale’s down-fall. It was also Buzzfeed’s, as it turned to churning out listi-cles for the sake of getting reads without caring about their audience or writers as much as it previously had.

With its closure, Telltale has not only shown disrespect to its former employees, but also to its fan base. It has effective-ly canceled the finale of its “The Walking Dead” and a sequel for “The Wolf Among Us” that was scheduled to be released in 2018 after five years of anticipation.

Companies need to learn they won’t make money by pri-oritizing money. If they put rev-enue ahead of their employees and consumers, they will ulti-mately fall. While we have lim-ited say over companies’ actions, we can save ourselves from working for those that won’t treat us as we deserve.

Madeline Messa is a junior majoring in print and digital journalism and is a columnist for The Daily Collegian. Email her at mgm5413@psu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @madeline_messa.

MY VIEW | Madeline Messa

Messa

“Companies need

to learn they won’t

make money by

prioritizing money.

If they put revenue

ahead of their

employees and

consumers, they will

ultimately fall.”

Madeline Messa

Midterm cramming and paper writing will be put on hold this weekend.

It’s white out week. This Saturday, Penn State will

be taking on Ohio State in Beaver Stadium. The game is set to air in prime time, which compelled ESPN’s College GameDay to visit our campus ahead of the game.

This is the second year in a row the show will be broadcasting from Penn State’s campus. Last year, they covered Penn State’s match-up with the University of Michigan, which was also our annual white out game.

GameDay’s visit is exciting for whatever school they are visiting. The university is broadcasted on television and is put on a national stage for every college football fan to see.

Every student lining up to get into the pit to be right behind the stage will have to go in the wee hours of the morning — like around 2 a.m.

Very few people are at their best at that hour, knowing they’re going to have to be

awake for at least another ten hours.

But that’s no excuse to be a horrible person.

Last year, some students had bad experiences waiting for College GameDay because of their fellow students being verbally abusive and yelling slurs. There is no place for actions like this in the Penn State community or in society.

Don’t ruin your time or somebody else’s by acting immature and rude. It’s supposed to be a fun event for the Penn State to bond over, not fight about.

Being on television, we have to represent our school and community well. So, treat each other with kindness and treat

our opponents with some respect too.

GameDay is famous for the array of signs attendees make and bring to hold in the background of the hosts in the hopes of getting it displayed on television. For the most part, signs are funny and are lighthearted jabs at the opposing team.

But, with Ohio State’s head coach, Urban Meyer, involved in a scandal involving one of his former coaches being accused of domestic abuse, there’s bound to be less than tasteful signs.

Meyer was accused of knowingly covering up his ex-colleague’s misdeeds for a number of years. Ohio State

suspended him from coaching for a few games during the 2018 season. However, he returned to the sidelines on Saturday, Sept. 22.

This discipline from Ohio State illustrates they believe there was some wrongdoing by Meyer, but it wasn’t bad enough for him to be fired. For this, we believe Ohio State’s leadership and Meyer deserve to be criticized, as this story should not fade away.

However, signs just saying “Urban Liar” or some other sort of jab about the situation doesn’t criticize the people who rightfully deserve to be shamed. Obnoxious signs like this are only used to get attention.

We should know this as we’ve

experienced it first hand from our rival schools. To this day, students from other schools wear shirts and hold up signs stating, “Joe Knew,” or making jokes regarding the Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

We’ve always agreed this accomplishes nothing constructive and just attacks the students and fans of Penn State. And even worse, it makes a joke out of the victims.

It’s not clever, it’s offensive and dumb.

So, while it’s not the same situation at all, we shouldn’t be hypocritical in our criticisms of other schools attacking us by displaying signs making domestic abuse jokes or taking cheap shots at Meyer.

At GameDay, tailgating and during the game, let’s just be cool. Let’s treat one another with respect and enjoy the game.

The atmosphere will be incredible whether we win or lose, so let’s not taint it by acting stupid.

Oh, and if we do win, please celebrate responsibly. Thanks.

Let’s respect one anotherAt College GameDay this weekend, we should

treat everyone with kindness and respect

OUR VIEW

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ReTURning hOmeA State College local, Leath returns as a graduate transfer to fulfill her childhood dream

By Ben JenkinsThe Daily Collegian

For Penn State graduate transfer Taylor Leath, State College is home.

Her story in central Pennsyl-vania began dur-ing fourth grade, when her family

moved to the State College area. Quickly, Leath was immersed

in the game of volleyball, playing in the shadows of one of the great-est collegiate volleyball programs in the country.

A self-proclaimed “gym rat,” Leath and her sister grew up around Penn State volleyball. Throughout her childhood Leath spent hours at Rec Hall, learning the ins and outs of the game from the man who would eventually become her future head coach, Russ Rose.

“Her parents used to, kind of, drop her and her sister off in Rec Hall,” Rose said. “I’d teach them how to play when they were young kids just entering high school.”

Leath remembers those days well, and she smiles and laughs while talking about those child-hood memories inside the home of Penn State volleyball.

“At that time, I was so young and dumb,” Leath said. “He’d be talking to me and he’s Russ Rose, a legend, and my eyes would just be wandering around.”

Whether Leath took anything from those experiences or not, when she made it to ninth grade, her talent was immediately on full display.

As a freshman, her high school head coach Chad Weight made the decision to make her a starter on the varsity volleyball team.

He also realized something right away: Leath already had the ability and work ethic to be a suc-cessful volleyball player at the highest collegiate level.

“She also played club every

year, so she had a span of months of offseason training where she just kept developing and develop-ing her game,” Weight said.

As her time at State High wound down, Weight remembers just the type of high school player she developed into.

“She didn’t end up playing her junior year due to an injury,” Weight said. “In her senior year, she was probably one of the best players in the entire state of Pennsylvania.”

When the recruiting process began, Leath’s main intention was to use volleyball to get a good education.

“When I was making my ini-tial decision, it was much more academically focused,” Leath said. “Volleyball was really sec-ondary.”

Leath didn’t find herself on Rose’s radar in that year’s recruiting cycle as there wasn’t any room remaining for another outside hitter in the recruiting class.

That meant Penn State wasn’t an option. Though back then, and even now, Rose acknowledged Leath was talented and deserved a shot somewhere, even if it wasn’t donning a blue and white jersey.

“When she was a senior in high school, she was the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state,” Rose said. “She was a terrific player.”

For her, not playing for her hometown Nittany Lions was something she was okay with, and something she viewed as a new opportunity rather than defeat.

“I had a lot of room to grow,” Leath said.

As the decision on where to play grew closer, Leath began to focus in on three or four of her top schools.

One stood out the most, how-ever — North Carolina. A school where she immediately felt com-

fortable the moment she set foot on campus.

“It felt like a home away from home,” Leath said. “I chose UNC because that’s where I wanted to go.”

Looking back at that decision now, Rose knows it was the best move for Leath’s career.

“I thought North Carolina then, and now, was a great place for her to go,” Rose said of his program’s first-ever grad transfer. “I’m a big fan of the coach at North Carolina and I thought she would have a great career there.”

Rose was right, as Leath as-sembled an impressive three-

season career at North Carolina, including numerous conference and national awards, coming mostly during her redshirt sopho-more season in 2016.

In that season, Leath was named the ACC Player of the Year, as well as a member of the AVCA All-America Second Team, leading the team with 374 kills, hitting .252. She also compiled 299 digs, 70 blocks, 20 assists and 19 service aces.

With the importance of aca-demics in mind, Leath was also a member of the All-ACC Academic Team and the ACC Academic Honor Roll, an achievement she

earned three times. In her entire Tar Heel career, Leath finished with 928 kills, hitting a combined .218, 624 digs, 183 blocks, 38 assists and 42 service aces.

After graduating from North Carolina with a degree in politi-cal science, Leath immediately prepared for graduate school and set out to find a solid fit.

Something weighing on her mind was her final year of NCAA eligibility, which she still had due to redshirting her freshman year.

Through this, all signs pointed back to where her volleyball cycle began: Rec Hall.

“It was a no brainer,” Leath said.

“At Penn State, I knew the coach, I knew Nia (Reed) and I knew Bryanna (Weiskircher). I knew I’d be able to transition seamlessly.”

On Sept. 15, wearing Penn State blue and white, Leath re-corded her 1,000-career collegiate kill in a match against American University.

Leath leads Penn State in kills with 104, is second in digs with 85 and third in blocks with 27. To most, including her high school coach, the milestone came as no surprise.

“You put all that stuff together, with her hard work and the time she puts in, and I’m not surprised at all,” Weight said.

Now, as both a Penn State women’s volleyball player and as someone earning her master’s degree in the Donald P. Bellisa-rio College of Communications, Leath sometimes thinks about the people playing high school sports right down the road at State High, just like she was a few years ago.

“I hope that I’m able to be some sort of role model,” Leath said. “I hope to be someone they can look up to.”

To email reporter: bmj5267@psu.edu.

Follow him on Twitter at @benjenkins67.

Ken Kalbach/Collegian

Outside hitter Taylor Leath (43) spikes the ball over the net at Rec Hall

on Saturday, Aug. 25. The Nittany Lions swept the Retrievers 3 sets to 0.

By Justin MorgansteinThe Daily Collegian

By the time an athlete’s senior season rolls around, they hope to already have established them-

selves and play a freer, less rigid style and let their respec-tive sport come to them.

But for a returning All-Amer-ican, Big Ten Player of the Year and team-leading goal scorer, its senior season is when an athlete once again has to prove that those accolades weren’t just in the past.

Add an injured foot into the mix, and some players would have trouble recovering not only physically but mentally as well.

Not Penn State’s Moira Putsch.Putsch has been able to bounce

back from a broken foot, which sidelined her for the entire pre-season and opener as well.

But the road she faced to get back to where she now says is “100 percent” was not easy.

“Not only did I realize that it would be a big transition for me but for my teammates as well,” Putsch said.

Putsch was very anxious to get back in the mix when the season began, and it was difficult for her to not just ignore the doctors and

coaching staff and do her own thing.

“I was really eager and hon-estly annoying everyone on our staff,” Putsch said. “But com-ing back, my teammates really helped me stay positive because there were definitely some mo-ments of frustration along the way for me.”

The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year had her breakout game this weekend, as she posted some lofty numbers versus Michigan State. Putsch found the back of the net twice and dished out five assists en route to an 8-0 blowout win against the Spartans.

She currently has 14 points on four goals and six assists, good for the team’s best.

Coach Char Morett-Curtiss said that type of offensive skill is just part of who Putsch is.

“She definitely saw how effec-tive she is when she touches the ball and it was possibly a break-out moment for her on Sunday,” Morett-Curtiss said. “She is just a competitor in her DNA.”

Although Putsch and the rest of the Nittany Lions are excited about what looks like a return to form, the state of the entire team is what’s always on her mind.

Penn State is currently ranked seventh in the nation, and Putsch

realizes that if they want to play deep into the postseason, then winning some of the upcoming Big Ten matchups is critical.

“Every Big Ten game is phys-ical and exciting, and I feel that every team steps up their game when they play Penn State and I am honored to be a part of that,” she said.

Putsch has been a member of a Big Ten championship win-ning team in 2016 and two teams that have made NCAA tourna-ments since transferring to Penn State.

The Media, Pennsylvania native didn’t start her career making such an impact for the Nittany Lions, but she was de-termined to finish there.

She started her college ca-reer at the University of Mary-land but transferred to Penn State after her freshman year, even after being a starter on Maryland’s Big Ten title win-ning team and subsequently be-ing named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

But even for all of Putsch’s success during her short stay at College Park, her decision to transfer turned out to be benefi-cial for both her and Penn State.

Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.

Samantha Wilson/Collegian

Forward Moira Putsch (18) shoots the ball to her teammates during a pentalty corner game against Michigan

State at the Field Hockey Complex on Sunday, Sept. 23. The Nittany Lions defeated the Spartans 8-0.

moira Putsch is back and ready to make an impact

By Matt KnaubThe Daily Collegian

Defender Ellie Jean wears the blue and white proudly ev-ery time she steps on the field —

just as her father did years ago.

However, Jean’s father did not don a Penn State soc-

cer uniform, but rather blue and white pinstripes for the New York Yankees

Domingo Jean was pitcher for the Yankees in 1993, starting six games and appearing in another four, compiling a 4.46 ERA.

A minor league journeyman, Domingo spent 14 seasons as a player in six MLB farm systems, as well as a brief stint in an inde-pendent league.

Fast forward 25 years, and his daughter Ellie is playing a dif-ferent sport at an exceptionally high level. The redshirt junior is in her fourth season with the Nittany Lions and is one of the anchors of Penn State’s defense.

“He’s been a great influence in my life in terms of just wis-dom from an elite athlete that came before me,” Ellie said on her father. “I’ve asked him a lot of tips and tricks of the trade.”

While baseball and soccer may be very different, the simi-larity of being one of the best at their respective sport remains the same. With all the advice

Ellie has received from her fa-ther, there is one piece that sticks out above the rest.

“He really likes to reiterate just to keep working really hard and to not lose where you came from,” Ellie said.

Domingo was born in 1969 in Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, on the southern coast of the country.

The city is known for producing many talented big-leaguers, such as Sammy Sosa, Robinson Canó, and Alfonso Soriano.

“I know that his childhood and his growing up was much more difficult than mine was,” Ellie said.

Ellie was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and raised in Coven-try, Connecticut. She has com-peted with the United States Women’s National Team at the U-14, U-15, U-17, U-18, U-20 and U-23 levels, but has not forgotten her family’s roots.

“Just to understand where you came from, and see how you can apply and represent your family and your bloodshed through what you’re doing,” Ellie said.

In her Penn State career, Ellie has played in 58 games, staring in 42 of them.

She recorded six assists during her true freshman season, but has yet to find the back of the net in her collegiate career.

Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.

Jackson Mills/Collegian

Ellie Jean (14) eyes down the ball at the 18-yard box at Jeffrey field on

Sunday, Sept. 9. Virginia defeated Penn State 2-1.

FIELD HOCKEY

WOMEN’S SOCCER

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Jean represents family on and off the field

The Daily Collegian sPOrTs SePT. 27-30, 2018 | Page B5

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Penn State position preview: wingersBy Jim Krueger The Daily Collegian

As Penn State hits the ice for its exhibition game against Ca-nadian school Brock University

on Oct. 6, it is time to look at the squad’s talented group of wings, who should again

take the Big Ten by storm.The Nittany Lions’ offense will

look to maintain the rate it has been performing at the last cou-ple of seasons, ranking fourth in the nation in total goals scored last season and leading the na-tion the year before.

With an already shaky defense losing several important play-ers, there is an expectation that Penn State’s offense will score the goals needed to compete in the Big Ten to balance out that deficiency.

The Nittany Lion front line will be reeling from the loss of An-drew Sturtz, who left a year early to pursue a career in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators.

The loss of Sturtz is a substan-tial one, as his 40 points in 37 games were a huge reason

Penn State was able to stay

competitive last year during a season in which a strong offense largely carried the Nittany Lions into the postseason.

The biggest question on the of-fensive side of the puck this sea-son will be how Penn State can replace the offensive production that left when Sturtz did.

In an interview with the Big Ten Network, coach Guy Gadowsky said Sturtz’s production would be replaced “by committee.”

If true, this committee will like-ly be led by junior Denis Smirnov. Smirnov’s production last season was limited, missing eight games due to an illness.

We have seen what can happen when Smirnov has an entire sea-son to perform.

In 2016-17, the Colorado Ava-lanche draft pick accumulated 47 points in 39 games, leading all NCAA freshmen in points and setting a Penn State record with points and assists.

Two other wingers who will be expected to step up with the departure of Sturtz are junior Brandon Biro and sophomore Alex Limoges.

Biro, who was named an alternate captain this season, will look to continue his positive progression in his third season with the Nittany Lions.

Biro earned 31 points in his sophomore season, which as a major improvement from the 20 he earned his first season in blue and white.

With an “A” on his jersey, it’s expected that Biro will provide strong attacking prowess on the opposite side of Smirnov.

With an “A” on his jersey, it is expected that Biro will provide a strong attacking prowess on the opposite side of Smirnov on the front line.

Limoges is player Gadowsky mentioned in his latest interview as someone he expects to step up and improve significantly over the coming months.

The sophomore’s improvement comes with more playing time fol-lowing Sturtz’s departure could likely be junior Liam Folkes,

Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.

Aabha Vora/Collegian

Forward Denis Smirnov (25) chases after Jack Jenkins (28) during the men’s hockey game against Notre Dame

at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday, Feb 2. The Fighting Irish defeated the Nittany Lions 5-3.

MEN’S HOCKEY

The Daily Collegian Page B6 | SePT. 27-30, 2018

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